Elsinore, Utah

The community was first settled in the spring of 1874 by James C. Jensen, Jens Iver Jensen, and others. The area was settled by Danish converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and named after Kronborg Castle, known as Elsinore in Hamlet. It was home to a Utah-Idaho Sugar Company factory for processing sugar beets into sugar from 1911 to 1929, but was closed due to a sugar beet blight. The town was given its official name at the suggestion of Latter-day Saint Stake President Joseph A. Young. Previously, the town was named Little Denmark because many of the early settlers were immigrants of that country.

One of the town’s leading citizens, George Staples (1834–1890) was gored to death by a Jersey bull on his farm outside town on October 30, 1890. Staples was the English immigrant and adopted Sioux who widely credited with opening the way for peaceful settlement of southern Utah by negotiation with Native American tribes in the area such as the Pahvant Ute band led by Chief Kanosh (1821–1884).

On September 29, 1921, the town was rocked by an earthquake which damaged several buildings, including the school, which would later house the library.